PAACA Trains Journalists in Akwa Ibom Towards Improved Elections in Nigeria
By Ekemini Simon
In a bid to strengthen Nigeria’s electoral process ahead of future elections including the 2027 General Elections, a non-governmental organization working on interventions geared toward improving governance in Nigeria, Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA) has trained journalists in Akwa Ibom State on how best to carry out advocacy around reforms in the Electoral Act.
The One-day training which was held in Uyo on Wednesday had the presence of journalists across various media houses engaged on the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, their ramifications, and prospective effects on the democratic process.
In his welcome address, the Executive Director of Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa, Mr. Ezenwa Nwagwu noted that the training is designed to equip media practitioners with the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively understand and communicate the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and to enable them to conduct step-down training and host informative radio programmes on electoral laws.
He said the training will also provide the needed capacity to journalists in their engagement ahead of the electoral reforms ongoing in the country especially as the engagement will identify sections in the Electoral Act that require review and
provide a common direction for media organization in advocacy around reforms in the electoral Act.
Nwagwu who said strengthening the country’s electoral process ahead of future elections is necessary and urgent said PAACA is currently working towards that direction through its partnership with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) coupled with its planned contributions at the ongoing constitutional amendment.
The Executive Director pointed out that to positively change the negative electoral culture in the country, there is need for a change of mindset and this could be done through electoral education in which the media plays a significant role.
He added “We want to see that more people understand the Electoral Act, the Regulations and Guidelines that give flesh to the Act. For instance, findings have shown that people are not aware that elections are still manual as they have misconstrued electronic transmission of results to mean electronic voting. If people understand that they have a role to play at the polling unit, party agents have a role, then things must have changed to a reasonable degree.”
Meanwhile, some of the sessions taken during the training had included presentation on key Provisions of the Electoral Act including sessions to address queries and concerns, a Panel Discussion on the role of the Media in electoral education and best practices in conducting step-down training and producing informative programmes.
The participants engaged in a thorough analysis of electoral changes, including their essential provisions, ramifications, and prospective effects on the democratic process, through demanding and interactive sessions.
In a reaction, one of the Participants, Priscilla Akpanettot said the training was timely and important as there were several complaints over the last general elections in Nigeria.
While commending PAACA for the initiative, she noted that if an acceptable election must be achieved in future elections, there is an urgent need for all stakeholders including the media to start early to push for electoral reforms against identified gaps from the last election.